Trying To Do The Side-Step

Jan--no I'm not writing a book about my neighbor's.  Just posting about them on here exhausts me!
============================

Pearl's daughter gave her a lap-top over two years ago, when Pearl's old PC died.  She showed Pearl how to do everything, but...it had Windows 8 on it and it was a bit confusing, PLUS, the desktop had different icons on it than Pearl's old computer so she didn't like it.  Never could understand it enough to use it and she wanted to give it back.  

Pearl's daughter would not take it back and said, "You either learn to use it or go without a computer."

Unbeknownst to me.  So, when Pearl got to wanting another PC, I suggested she go along with me when I ordered mine and see if she wanted to look at them and perhaps get one.  Which, she did.  Meanwhile, the Lap-top has lain on top of the entertainment center for the last two years.  Gathering dust as neither Mom or daughter will give in.

So--for this reason, Pearl's daughter has been a bit miffed at me since Pearl got her new PC.  I recently found out from Pearl, because she knew not what she said, that a couple of times, the daughter has changed things on the PC and when Pearl tried to log in and her PC wouldn't, her daughter told her, "Call Judy.  She can fix it."

A bit of sabotage to make me look the dummy.
<I quite frequently look the dummy.  I don't need someone setting me up>

This morning, Pearl's daughter called me.  "The lady from the computer store called Mom and got her all confused.  She needs to retrieve Mom's password and she can't seem to do it."

"Oh."

"If she was worth anything, she ought to know how to retrieve a password. How long have you been doing business with them?  They don't sound very knowledge to me!"
<ah yes, my fault again>

"I don't know what all is involved in retrieving a password, so I can't tell you what the problem might be."

Three seconds after Marge hung up, Pearl called.

"That Heidi over there can't seem to put a simple icon on my desk-top!"

"Which icon?"

"She is trying to put an e-mail icon on my  desktop so all I have to do is click it and it will go straight to my e-mail account."

"Your g-mail account.  Right?"

"NO!  My E-MAIL account!  Clean out your ears!"

"What problem is she having?"

"She needs my password."

"Oh. oh.  You don't remember, right?"

"That's right, so I told her to just put a new password on that account and I will worry about it later."

"Okay."

"But, she says, she can't change my password because she doesn't know the answers to security."

"Security answers?"

"Yes.  Security stuff that she doesn't know the answers.  How dumb can she be?"

"I'll give her a call and call you back."
================
So I did.  Heidi cannot access Pearl's g-mail account to make a shortcut icon unless she has Pearl's g-mail password.  Pearl can't seem to come up with a password.  Heidi tried to set up a new password, but she needs to know the answer to Pearl's security question.  Like, "your mother's maiden name," or "your favorite pet".  

"I will have her daughter call you.  She set up the account, I can only assume she will know the answer to the security answer."
<and you know what happens when you assume>

I called Pearl back and explained as best I could.

"Well, why didn't Heidi ask me?  I know my mother's maiden name."

"No--it might not be that one.  (deep breath) When you set up a new account--like we did for your on-line banking? Remember.  There are four or five security questions to choose from.  You have to pick one.  We don't know which one Marge picked to answer."

"Well, I'll have Marge call her when she gets out of work."

"Good idea."

"This is getting ridiculous!"

"Yes it is!"
<and I wasn't referring to Heidi>
========================
I managed to get my bedroom cleaned up for fall/winter, curtains and bedding washed, mirror cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, but I did not get my closet emptied out to swap my clothes and thus, did not get my hot water heater drained and flushed!

New filter in the air cleaner and the furnace.  Two loads of laundry done.

Dar walked in.

"Hi.  Guess what?  I bought a Smart phone.  Man, it is sumpthin."

"I've heard they are."

"I thought maybe you could help me program it?"

"Ah--I don't know anything about cell phones.  You better have your brother do it for you."

"Oh.  The guy said it was easy-peasy.  Just like a computer and you know computers."
<no, no, no!>

"Not that much.  You better have your brother do it for you."

Then she switched gears and told me she has to have a tooth extracted tomorrow and by the time she got done talking about it, she was near hysteria.  She stood up and started pacing.

"I can't stand the shots!  I get so nervous...I get nauseous."

"Which oral surgeon are you going to?"

"I'm not.  My regular dentist is going to do it."

"Oh."

"Why?"

"Well...when I had my last two teeth pulled, I went to an oral surgeon and she put me out.  I didn't get any shots."

"Oh.  I can't tolerate gas!"

"No.  It's not gas.  It's the same sedative they use.... in your arm....the same stuff they use when you have your colonoscopy.  It's great!"

She sat down.

"Oh.  I wonder why he didn't give me that choice?"

"Well, the regular dentist is not allowed to use a sedative like that.  It has to be an oral surgeon."

"No, I mean, why didn't he ask me if I wanted an oral surgeon to do it?"

"Probably because HE wants the money?"

"Well, when I get home, I'm going to work in my garden the rest of the afternoon.  I gotta get those Hosta's dug up."

"Ah...I don't think that is a very good idea.  You probably shouldn't be bending over or exerting your heart after you have dental surgery."

"Oh, I used to get a tooth pulled and go back to work!"

"Used to?  When was that?"

"Oh...I don't know.  When I was in my forties."

"Okay...so that was thirty years ago and you weren't on a blood thinner with a heart problem!"
=======================

This is how Jackie's son cuts back her perennials.  With the weed whip--right down to the ground.

When my sister and BIL came and cut down my dying Rose of Sharon bush out back, it was lovely of them.  It was also 10 days before the yard waste people come to pick up.  I had my bags of garden clippings too.  We were expecting rain, so I loaded the bags in my wheel barrow and put them in my shed.  This afternoon, I remembered to get them out in preparation for tomorrow's pick-up.  YAY--at least I remembered.  Will be glad to see this mess gone!

As per the yard waste people's Law:  All branches cut into 4 feet lengths and tied with twine and a twine handle to pick them up.  

We are such Conservative, do it by the book people. 

Cast of Characters

None of my neighbor's have learning disabilities or a lower than average IQ.  They just have no common sense.  But then, I have a few people in my family with very high IQ's and they have no common sense either.  

Pearl came down today and she said that she is now convinced that Merle has Parkinson's.   So they are going to make a doctor's appointment and see.  He was at the Neurologist this spring.  That specialist did the CAT scan on his brain, looking to see if Merle had a stroke or TIA.  Another specialist did two MRI's, from Merle's head to his feet.  

Wouldn't they have found signs of Parkinson's?

Pearl said, "I hope they find out that he has it.  At least then we'd know.  I am so sick of everyone talking about him."

Pearl and Merle

I can't figure them out.  It's like they grew to about 15-16 and then their brains quit growing.  Neither one of them as a lick of common sense.  Things I think of as ordinary and all people know about, they don't have a clue.

They were very worried about Merle's blood test and the other tests.  The doctor calls them a week or 10 days later with the results.  All that time, they are stressed out.  When I told them that our hospital has the blood test results the afternoon of the day they are taken, Pearl practically called me a liar.

"The doctor calls us the minute he sees the results!"

"Well, if you get worried, you could call the doctor a couple days after the tests and ask about the results."

"Why?  He doesn't get the results for at least a week."

So--I thought I could help and offered to set them up with a patient portal account with our hospital.  I have one and with just a click, you can see ALL the tests you have had done and the results--within hours after the tests are done.

"No!  What if the doctors found out we were doing that.  They'd be mad at us and think we were snooping!"

Ten years ago, they bought a piece of undeveloped property, in Howell, on a nice stream with lots of trees.  Lovely.  Merle built a small little barn and then they bought a large motor home to park on the property and live in.  Did they check the zoning laws?  Of course not!  So three years later the township tells them they have to move the motor home, that the property is within the city limits and is not zoned "recreational", they can't live there.

So, what did they do?  They tried to sell the property--for all of three months and then let it go back to the bank.

They moved here and let the motor home go back to the bank, because they could not sell it for what they owed on it.

They declared bankruptcy and STILL had to pay part of the loans they had, because they did not check on the stipulations of the bankruptcy.  "We didn't understand all that legal stuff, so we just signed the papers."  "Did you ask your attorney to explain it all to you?"  "No--we wouldn't have understood it anyway."

Pearl bought a new pair of glasses last month = $250.00.  She has macro-degeneration disease and need good glasses.  She wore them for two days until her daughter told her she looked like an owl.  She hasn't worn them since.  Is back to wearing her old glasses that she can see through.  Did she take them back?  "No.  Wal-Mart wouldn't take them back," she said.  "Sure they would!  They have a guarantee on glasses for a month.  If you don't like them, take them back."  "Then I'd have to buy all new glasses."  "NO!  They have a guarantee--that's what it's for!"

Pearl wants an e-mail service so she can order things on-line and check the confirmation and ship dates.  She has a deal with the mail lady.  If Pearl has packages and the mail lady sees Merle's truck in the drive, the mail lady is NOT to drop off the packages!

The stuff she orders is usually cheap junk and it either doesn't work, or doesn't fit and instead of sending it back; on garbage day, she waits for Merle to go to work and hides the stuff in the trash can for pick-up.

I was up there last week.  Pearl had bought a large mirror.  Merle was trying to use a glass cutter to cut out triangles.  There were cracks in the mirror and shards of glass all over the dining room floor.

"Ah--I don't think one of those glass cutters will work on mirrors--only glass like window glass," I said.

He says, "Oh.  Pearl wanted to paint on it."

I looked at Pearl, "Sure it will work.  He just doesn't know how...or doesn't want to, to spite me!"

They bought a subscription to Net Flix, which they deemed would be cheaper than going to the movies once a month.  Of course, Merle couldn't figure out how to connect it and with good reason, they didn't have anything to "run" it through.  So, they had to buy a Blu Ray player.  Still didn't work.  The Comcast guy came out with a cost of $85.00, because they claimed it was their cable's fault.  Nope.  So then, they had to buy a little WIFI receiver of some kind, I don't know what that cost.  Still wouldn't work.  So--they called Comcast to come out again--another $85.00.  It now works, if they can figure out how to use the remote.  

Merle stored their humidifier UNDER their trailer spring of 2014.  When they needed it in January 2015, he went to get it and wondered why it wouldn't work.  Residue water in it had frozen and broke the dang thing.  

Pearl wanted a fireplace.  They wanted me to research on line and find a company around here that sold gas log fireplace inserts.  I did and found three with customer ratings.  I advised them NOT to buy from the last place as the customer complaints were many fold. 

"It will save us money on our gas bill," she reasoned, when Merle bulked at the idea. 

So--they bought from the worse place, because they were cheaper.  They had fire box, flue and gas log insert put in.  It never has worked right.  They had a minor gas leak--the company they bought from wouldn't stand by the repair.  When they turn on the log, the fireplace draws all the warm air from their living room up, out the flue.  Their electric and gas bills have gone way up.  Plus, the residue from the gas log, puts out a sticky film that covers all their windows and walls, and probably their lungs.

Pearl was having trouble with a prescription once, so I asked her what was the name of the drug.  "Oh, I don't know.  It's a pink pill.  What comes in a pink pill?"

"Oh...cyanide, arsenic...all number of things," I said.

"Oh.  Are those bad for me to take?"

Remember me telling you when she asked me up to supper and she had put a frozen roast in the crock-pot and thought it would be done, on low, in two hours time?

She cooks chili like this.  Take cover off the crock pot.  Add a pound of frozen ground beef and all other ingredients.  She doesn't bother to thaw or brown the ground beef.  Cook on low for 3 hours.

She has burned up two microwaves just in the last 18 months.

She has a lap top, that she doesn't use.  Reason?  Her desk top on it doesn't look like her desk top on her PC, so she doesn't understand it.  She got a smart phone.  You can only imagine.

She knows not one solitary thing about her computer except how to turn it on.  She doesn't want to know.  She doesn't have the slightest interest.  All she wants it to do is, when she turns it on, it better come up to Face Book as her home page or she's lost.  Plus, I did tell you about the time two years ago when she was totally and completely convinced that her computer hated her and it KNEW when she sat down in front of it, that it was HER and would stop working on purpose.

She now is convinced that our doctor hates her.  Reason?  "The last two times I have been there, I have seen his assistant.  He doesn't even come in the room."

"When you made your appointment, did you request to see him?"

"No...but he should know I want to see him."

"Well, he doesn't make the appointment so he doesn't even know you are coming in, until he sees his patient list for the day."

"Well, he doesn't do a thing for me anyway."

"Like?"

"I can barely walk because of my arthritis.  My blood sugar is still higher than it should be.  Plus, I have neuropathy in my feet."

"Didn't he give you a prescription for Celebrex and Tramadol for the inflammation and pain?"

"I don't know.  I take a blue pill in the morning and a white one two hours later."

"Have you lost weight, like he told you?  Are you walking more, like he told you?"

"No.  I can't lose weight and it's too hard for me to walk because my knees and legs hurt."

"I guess you're right then.  He can't do anything for you.  Maybe you need to find a new doctor."
========================
Do you want more instances?  No?  I don't blame you!

Sometimes I just want to stand up, look at them and scream, "ARGGH!"

Like I have said before, I moved into this park when I was 64 years old.  Never before, in my entire life, have I EVER met people like my neighbors!  Be it Merle & Pearl, Darlene, Jackie, Tami or John.  They are the weirdest people!  

They say and do things, all the time, that just make me wonder.  Who ties their shoelaces for them?

Everything's Coming Up Roses!

I forgot to tell you, Merle has had more, even more tests done and there is absolutely not one darn thing wrong with him---physically anyway.

Last summer/fall, he had blood tests, colonoscopy, tread mill test, wore a Holter heart monitor, had a ultra sound on his heart, Doppler on his carotid arteries, MRI's (plural that is)-from head down to his feet,  Nothing wrong with him.

So, he still doesn't feel well and sort of shuffles when he walks, and sleeps a lot.  So, three months ago he had even more extensive tests done.  CAT scan on his brain.  The most up-to-date cancer testing.  More blood work done, looking for Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus, Meningitis, you name it, they searched for it.  Two more MRI's from head to foot.  Urine collection.  Kidney tests.  Bladder tests.  Liver scan.  Gall Bladder ultra sound.  Scope to look at his Prostate gland.  Endoscopy into his lungs.  Sleep Apnea overnight study.  

There is not one thing wrong with him and all docs and specialists told him, he'll probably live into his nineties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does this make he and Pearl overjoyed?  Nope.

He still drags around and she's still mad because he isn't 50 anymore.

I suggested to Pearl that I think he should take an anti-depressant.  Just a mild one--Celexa--like I take.  Pearl's response was, "He isn't going insane!  He doesn't have mental illness!"

I tried to explain that Merle had a big shock last year when he came to realize that he was no longer capable of lifting heavy things, working as much as he always had, that mowing the lawn makes his legs tired and that his balance is off.  I said, "That was probably a hit to his manhood and it probably didn't help that you kept telling him, 'you just aren't the man I have always known. I didn't expect you to end up this way!' "

I quietly said to her, "Psychologically, that could put him in a very depressed mood.  His symptoms of sleeping a lot, not wanting to go anywhere anymore, not talking very much, that is typical of depression.  A lot of people have depression..especially when they get older."

*crickets

Guess I'm done with that too and now when she tells me how, "I just hate him anymore.  He won't talk to me, he doesn't want to do anything, he just sits in his chair like a lump! He is not the man he has always been, and I don't like him this way!"  

I just reply, "Oh?"

She didn't realize he was going to get old?
She still thinks he should act like he did when he was 20?
She won't let him quit work?

Looney Tunes!
================================
So--the Roses part? (up in the title)

Yesterday, I took a couple of hours to figure out my budget.  Not the budget of the last few years, but a newer one--a separate one, which includes the work I do for My Sweet Girl, Chris.

I have gone back to the way I once operated--budget-wise.  A certain amount of my "pay" will go into my checking account.  The rest will be divided into envelopes--for the rest of my car repairs in the spring.  For my glasses.  For the doctor bills still present in my life. For miscellaneous--because for the last three years, my Budget has had no Misc. money.  (Hair cut.  Eating out.  New shirt. Ink jet cartridges. Kids birthdays. Pizza delivery) Those things I need, but don't have room for in my normal Budget.

AND I know myself well enough that if, I put all my work related $$$ into my checking account, it would soon be spent on something stupid.  I do best working with envelopes for certain emergency type things I will need.  I never Rob Peter to Pay Paul that way. It's untouchable until I have enough to pay for what I need.

I figure, if I continue to work for Chrissy, until I am 85-87 years old--I just might get all my debts paid off!  HAH!

Anyway, you just can't imagine the weight that has been taken off my mind.  I'm no longer not as scared anymore.  
===================

ARGGH!!

I caught a ride into Brighton with Dar this morning and picked up my car.  This time, after she dropped me off, she didn't get lost getting back to work.  The Meijer store, where she works, is on the same street as the service garage, where my car was, but last time, she got lost going back!  It's all of four blocks!

She is more than just directionally challenged and on the ride in, I discovered why.  She keeps up a non-stop conversation.  She never looks at side streets, or buildings for reference points, she barely sees the traffic around her.  So, when she gets somewhere, she has no idea where she is, how she got there and certainly no idea how to get back.  Kind of scary!!

<"In which direction does the sun rise, Dar?"
"That way."
"and you are driving into the sun, right?"
"Yes, and it's bright."
"Okay, so if you are driving into the sun, are you heading east or west or......"
"I don't know!">
=================

Anyway, my car is home with two new Serpentine belts under her hood and ready to drive her engine!  So--after two months I have, new front brakes, pads and rotors.  A new radiator.  New belts and hoses.  My list of five major repairs, is down to two...AND, I have paid for next months rent on their establishment!!!!!
========================
I didn't tell you that Sunday I went up to Pearl's.  You know, she has been bugging me to set up an e-mail account for her, because.........she wants to order things on-line and they need her e-mail address to send the confirmation.  I haven't wanted to do it, but....................

I tried and tried.  After all, we both have Comcast and we have to have an e-mail account/address with them.  Every time I tried, I'd get an error message saying she already had one.  So I asked pertinent questions of her like, "when you started with Comcast, did they give you an e-mail address or did Marge (her daughter) set you up with one?"

"I don't know.  Maybe.  I wasn't in the room when they did all that computer stuff."

"Do you have a paper where she or you might have written it down.  That and your password?"

"No.  Not that I remember."

"Do you check your bank balance on-line?"

"Yes--all the time."

"Well, in order to do that, they would request your e-mail address and password."

"They would?  They never asked me for that."

"Who set up your account information, so you can log in to check the bank?"

"Marge, but she never told me I had an e-mail address or needed a password."
<ARGGH>

So I gave up on that.  Her computer was also running slow and she is without any anti-virus protection.

I did a disc clean, but nowadays, that doesn't do much for these newer machines.  I did not do a registry clean, because you can get into all kinds of trouble with those.  I have done it on my machine, but I wasn't going to do it on hers!
===================
Yesterday she called.

"I can't get into Face Book.  They want my user ID and password."

"Well, just type that information on those lines in that little box."

"I don't know what information they want."

"Your user identification or name and your password."

"I don't have any of that."

"When Marge set up your Face Book account, she put in your user name and  you chose the password 'tiger09', remember?"

"Oh, that password has been changed.  It's now 'tiger11" "

"Okay, put that in."

"It won't work.  Somebody messed up my computer.  You were the last one to work on it......"
<AHA!>

"I think we should take your computer over to the store, where we bought ours last year, and have Holly put Outlook express on, and the virus protection program she put on it when it was new and clean up your hard drive."

"Okay...when?"

"Wednesday, after I get my car back."
=============================
So today at 2:00, I picked up Pearl and her computer and off we went.

When we got to the store, I explained what was going on.  Holly said to Pearl, "Who is your service provider?"

"Huh?"

I answered, "Comcast."

Holly:  "Well, if you have Comcast you automatically have an e-mail address.  You don't need Outlook, you just go to the Comcast website and can read all your e-mails there."

"Huh?"

Holly:  "What is your e-mail address at Comcast?"

Pearl:  "I don't have one."

Judy: "The e-mail I last knew for Pearl was, pearleo7794@comcast.net"

Pearl: "Oh, that's been changed.  Marge set me up a g-mail account last month."

I spun my head around and looked at Pearl.  "Then you do have an e-mail account?"

Pearl:  "No!  You don't hear very well, I said, Marge set me up a G-MAIL account, not an E-MAIL account." She looked at Holly,  "I keep telling her, she needs a hearing aid!"

I turned back to Holly, "Just install Bitedefender, clean up her hard drive, get all those icons off her start-up bar and put a g-mail icon on her desk top, so she only needs to click it to get to her e-mails.  That should do it."

Holly turned to Pearl, "Is that what you want done?"

"I guess so."

I said, "As soon as we get your computer back and hooked up, from then on, Marge will have to be your computer go-to person.  She probably knows more about computers than I do and....it isn't wise to have too many people messing on your computer because....one of them won't know what the other has done and that only causes more problems."
============
We both bought the same computer July 2014.  Four times in the last year I have either heard. "I hate this thing that you made me buy."  or "What did you do to my computer, it won't work."  Or words along those lines.  So......................

Not my circus.  Not my monkeys.  AND, this time I mean it!!!!!
=================
Oh yeah, as long as I am on a Pearl rant...I gave Pearl some Purple Hyacinth Bean Plant seeds.  I planted mine and the plant has flourished.  Hers have not, so I heard, "Something is wrong with those seeds you gave me.  What did you do?  Keep all the good ones for yourself?" 

I noted that she had them planted in a shady spot and they need sun, but she informed me that they got some late afternoon sun, so I didn't know what I was talking about...........................

Because, after all, as she will constantly tell me, she worked in a florist shop arranging flowers for three months, so she knows everything there is about plants!

How in the world has she been able to function in her life for seventy-seven years?

Rainy, Gray, Chilly, Fun Day!

Is that even possible?  For someone to be almost 30 and be gay and not even know it?  Could he just be non-sexual?  Perhaps born with not enough testosterone?  He certainly doesn't act gay in the least. Interesting.  I will be so happy when sweet Susanna finds another nice man, who is a "real" man.
====================================

Look what I found this afternoon: "Asexual people, though lacking sexual attraction to any gender, might engage in purely romantic relationships, while others might not.^[9][18][19] There are asexual-identified individuals who report that they feel sexual attraction but not the inclination to act on it because they have no true desire or need to engage in sexual or non-sexual activity (cuddling, hand-holding, etc.), while other asexuals engage in cuddling or other non-sexual physical activity."

That's him!  I have seen them cuddling and kissing.  They do almost everything together--like best pals.  The way he proposed to her was so romantic that the whole family thought it amazingly wonderful.  He appears to be very romantic, thoughtful to her with sweet little surprises.  Such a mystery!

Wow--something like this could really tear up a woman's self esteem.
==================
Pammie and Evan arrived just as my Soap was coming on.  I quickly determined that Evan's visit was far more important.  I had bought him a whole bunch of stuff from the Dollar store and he loved every single thing!  Especially the paddle ball that lights up when you bounce it.

Evan does not like/will not pose for pictures.

I had a cupcake and I put a candle in it and we sang Happy Birthday to him.  He wasn't a bit shy about that.  Usually kids hate to have that sung to them.

He's scarily smart, as was his older brother, Andrew, who he is the spitting image of.  Curious and wants to know how every things works.  Lots of questions and lots of explanations.  Today, he was curious about my floor registers and wanted to know what they were. 

So I took the vent off one and let him look down inside, then explained how it was a long tube that came from the furnace to carry the warm air to all the rooms.  I sent him seeing how many he could find and he figured out, they all laid along one straight course.  Bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room and den.

Then I showed him the furnace and explained how it worked and turned on the fan, so the air would blow up from all the vents.

He came back in the living room, looked around and said, "There should be another vent there---under the couch."

Well, there is, but you can't see it and it is shut off.  What mystified me was why would he think that?  How did he deduce that?

Then Pam told me of an instance last week.  Evan's dad was trying to figure something out on the panel for the outdoor sprinkler system.  He had tried a couple of different switches and Evan said, "Dad...look..if you push that switch and hold it and then that switch, at the same time, I think it will work."

His Dad said, "Nah...I don't think........well...wait a minute..." he tried it and it worked.

This little boy just turned 4 yesterday.  Andrew was the same way and by the time he was 6, usually I had no idea what he was talking about, when he explained how computers worked.
==============

Scary!


Just before they left, I said, "Evan, come here.  I have something to tell you."

He came close, "What?'

"Every time, before you leave, you are supposed to give Mimi a hug.........." and he went to scamper away.  I caught him, leaned back in my big chair and hugged him and kissed on his cheek and nibbled at his ears.  Of course, he squirmed to get away, squealing, giggling and laughing, but I held on tight.
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This late afternoon, I drove my car to the service garage and John met me there after he got out of work and brought me home.  The Serpentine belts were there waiting for my car.  They thought they might have the job done before closing time, but I decided to come home, instead of waiting.  

After all, John was already there to pick me up and, just my luck, if I had stayed and waited for the job, something would have happened to make the job longer and I would have been stuck in Brighton.

Better safe than sorry. 

Weird--Full Moon, Monday.

All I have is a cheap, point and shoot digital camera, so taking pictures of the eclipse didn't turn out real well, but................

I stood outside watching and then my back got too hurting.

So, I opened the back doors on my car, and laid down in the back

seat, with my head near the open door, with legs sticking out the other door,

and just watched.  I almost fell asleep!!

It reminded me of the many times I used to lay out in my back

yard and just watch the stars and moon as they crawled across the sky.

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Please, please....tell me I am not the only one grossed out by this new invention.
http://www.shethinx.com/pages/how-it-works

I dare say they aren't for menopausal women and the hemorrhages.  At that time, I needed Depends--two of them, one worn over the other!!!!!
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 Well, look what I spotted at 8:30 this morning.  Pearl visiting Jackie.

Such cute, short, little chubby ladies. :-)

Pammie called me.  She and Evan will be coming over tomorrow around 1:30!!! YAY.

Then, I was just sitting in my chair, knitting and in walked Karen.  How wonderful that she feels comfortable enough to just stop by without having to call first.

I haven't seen her in 3 months.

I got caught up on all her kids--sadly, my second grand daughter Susanna, the runner who works for New Balance Shoes in Oregon, is divorcing.  She and her  husband have known each other since they were both on the college track team---about 8 years.  They married 3 years, but they just remained friends.  There never was any passion or that kind of feeling in their marriage.  In fact, I found out today, their marriage was never consummated!  They were both virgins when they married and still are!  Weird, isn't it?

So, thankfully no children to add problems to the divorce, no large house, nothing of any great value.  They just divided their own stuff, Susanna moved to another apartment and.....that's it. Her husband is such a nice guy--perhaps he should have been a priest?  Because to my way of thinking, what man could refuse this beautiful girl?

Maybe he's gay?

Very sad for Susanna, but she will recover and be just fine.

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Karen and I yakked away as fast as we could for over an hour.  Then she wanted to know about my car.  i told her all I needed was the two Serpentine belts and it should be good to go for the winter.

"Mom!  You can't be driving around with frayed belts!  We had that happen and we were stranded.  If one of those belts go...your car is dead--you can't go anywhere!"

"Yes, I know.  I am going to get them done the first of the month."

"How much will it cost?"

"I....one hundred fifty dollars."

...and she whipped out her check book and said, "I want to pay for the belts...or your glasses.  Which one?"

"No...now----"

"I wanted to pay your dental bill last spring and you wouldn't let me.  Now don't argue!  Which one?"

"The belts.  I can still see pretty good, but I need the belts before winter."

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When she left, I called and made an appointment to take my car in Wednesday morning.

What a dear, dear child!!!

Plus I found out, her youngest daughter, Madeleine the ballet dancer/Guatemalan house builder, is taking RN classes in college AND working in elder care!!!

So nice to know that I have someone to take care of me.  LOL

<like I'm going to let my grand child change my Depends.  I think not!>

Plus--under advice from her Gramma Judy, Maddie has realized that her "summer love" in Guatemala will never come to anything more than that and she broke it off.  YAY!!

I think it was the story I told her about my summer love, Richard Spencer Dunham.  Or the one her Aunt Jennifer had when she spent a summer in Spain. 

"These summer loves are wonderful, but they rarely ever go on to anything more.  The distance is too far to work.  But, you'll have great memories, when your Gramma's age."

(and she still has her Purity ring ensconced on her ring finger, so....................................nothing important lost.)